Murder, He Wrote
by PomKat
Summary: COMPLETE! Two alternate endings are up! “He killed them,” she answered, a tremor in her voice. “My parents are dead.”
1. Help

-1Disclaimer: 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and all its characters belong to Dick Wolf. Not me. : (

A/N: Should I continue with this story?

---

_Murder, He Wrote // Chapter 1: Help_

She was running. God, she'd been running so long. But she had to keep going. She had to get away. As far as she could. Keep running. Just keep running. . .

---

"She's been here since this morning," Captain Daniel Ross explained to the two detectives as he motioned to the sleeping girl in the room behind him. "No one can get anything out of her. Not even her name. Nobody knows why she's here, but she won't leave. See what you two can do." He stepped aside so that Bobby and Alex could open the door and move in.

She was huddled up in a corner of one of the rooms separate from the large area that held all of the detectives' desks. A thin blanket had been thrown over her sleeping figure and her short, dark brown hair laid in messy layers against her pale face. Alex looked up to Bobby, who gazed down at her as they approached the teenager. Bobby crouched, gently laid his hand on her thin shoulder, causing the girl to abruptly jump awake. Her bright blue eyes stared at him as she tried to curl further back against the wall.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said softly. "My name is Bobby," He motioned to his partner using one of his large hands. "and this is Alex."

She looked him up and down, then did the same to the female detective standing behind him. "Are you going to help me?" she asked, her voice still weak and raspy from sleep.

"Yes, we are." Bobby stood, offered her a hand. She stared at it for a moment, and then reached out to take it. When the detective helped her to her feet, the blanket fell to the floor and behind him he heard Alex mutter something that sounded much like "sweet Jesus".

The pale pink tank top and gray sweatpants the teenager wore were soaked in blood, as were her arms and bare feet. And now that this was visible, Bobby could clearly see where the girl had tried to smear blood off of her face and hair. Still staring, Bobby pulled out a seat and watched as the girl fell into it.

"What happened to you?" he asked after a moment of eerie silence.

"He killed them," she answered, a tremor in her voice. "My parents are dead."


	2. Her Story

-1Disclaimer: 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and all its characters belong to Dick Wolf. Not me. : ( - Madison Rae Thompson © Me

A/N: I think this story will be fun to write. I just have to stick with it. Reviews always help. : )

---

_Murder, He Wrote // Chapter 2: Her Story_

"My name is Madison Rae Thompson," she began, shifting more comfortably in the seat. Her blood soaked clothes had been replaced by an ancient NYPD sweatshirt and gray sweatpants that Alex had managed to scrounge up from her locker. "Last night, I woke up. I'm not sure what woke me up, but I was up and I wanted a drink of water. In order to get to the kitchen, I have to pass by my parents room. I didn't think of checking on them, I never do, but when I walked past their room there was this _smell_. This horrible smell that was so strong it had me looking into the bedroom. And there they were."

Her breath caught in her throat, but she continued. "My dad was already dead. He was lying on the floor beside the bed and I looked over to see my mom. The man had her. He was killing her. He just kept stabbing her, over and over. She didn't scream, he had her mouth covered with his hand. I watched for a moment, then ran away. I hid in the closet, I think. I'm not sure. But I waited there for the longest time, the sun was just coming up when I finally came out. I went into their bedroom and I just sat there, yelling for them to wake up. But they didn't. They couldn't." She felt the tears prick behind her eyes, but they didn't fall. She'd already cried enough. "I left. I ran and ran until I couldn't run anymore. And I ended up here. I knew this was a good place, a safe place to be. My dad told me that when I was young."

They sat across from her, their pens frozen in their hands, their mouths slightly agape as they listened to what she had to say. Bobby finally moved, dropped the pen and scrubbed a hand over his face. He stared at her and she stared back. He said, "Who did this, Madison?"

"I don't know. A man," Madison replied quietly as she dropped her hands into her lap.

Bobby looked over to his partner, nodded, and the two stood. "We'll be back. Just stay here."

"Good Christ," Alex said once Bobby had shut the door. The air outside of the room was much thinner, much easier to breath. She looked down at the notebook in her hand, read the address that was scribbled on it aloud. She then turned to her partner and said, "Let's go check it out, then."

---

The door to the Thompson's small townhouse stood ajar. With a CSU team behind them, Bobby and Alex entered the home and studied the new surroundings. "No signs of burglary," Alex commented as she stared at the pricey furniture and art. She motioned to one of the CSUs. "Check the front door for fingerprints." She then directed her speech to her partner. "Maybe the killer left behind some prints."

"Not likely." Bobby rounded the corner, and ran into the invisible wall he knew would be there. Madison was right, the smell was horrible and eye-watering strong. "Found the bedroom, Eames," he called back to his partner as he entered the room that once belonged to William and Anne Thompson.

Their bodies were strewn in their own blood. The husband and father laid closest to the door, his dark eyes wide and glazed over with death. His arm was stretched out, as if trying to reach for the woman who laid a few feet from him. The largely pregnant, and now dead, wife and mother was crumpled in the floor at the base of their bed, her mouth placed in a permanent scream. Bobby blew out a sharp breath of air, snapped on a pair of gloves and got to work.

He heard Alex enter a few minutes later and hiss through her teeth. A moment passed and then she was at his side, kneeling over the female victim. "It looks like they both bled to death. I can't be sure, though." He rounded to the male, motioned her over. "There's hesitation marks," he said as he pointed to a group of wounds that weren't quite as deep as the others.

"So the killer wasn't sure how hard to stab. An amateur?" Alex inquired.

"Maybe. We'll have to find out." Bobby then pushed himself up, pointed to the trail of blood that lead to a separate room within the bedroom. "Killer washed up. We'll have to get the drains checked and get a team to search dumpsters. Killer might have ditched his clothes."

Alex nodded, rose to stand beside her partner. "He's leaving behind too many leads," she commented and turned to walk away from death.

---

Madison was in the same room when they returned, in her hand was a pencil and on the table in front of her was a piece of paper. When Bobby opened the door, her pale blue gaze shot up to meet his brown ones. He smiled politely and pulled a seat up next to her. "What'cha drawing?"

She jerked her chin up, pointing through the glass windows of the room and out to one of the detectives. He looked down at the piece of paper on the table. Roughly sketched onto it was the pretty face of Detective Megan Wheeler. Bobby nodded and said, "That's pretty good. Her name's Megan Wheeler, in case you wanted to know."

"She and that guy have been arguing the entire time I've been here." She pointed to the large man seated in the desk across from her. Bobby chuckled.

"That's Detective Mike Logan. Him and Megan argue a lot. You like to draw?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"I saw some of your drawings at your house. They're nice."

"You went to my house?" Her gaze dropped to the pencil in her hand.

"I had to. Procedure." He explained.

"I know." She sighed, dropped the pencil and crossed her arms over her chest. "Am I a coward for running away?" she asked. "Should I have stayed and tried to help them?"

"No. If you did, you'd be dead too."

"At least I wouldn't be here," she snapped back, glared up at him. "At least I wouldn't be here without a family. I'd be with them."

Bobby bit down hard on his tongue, leaned forward. "And would your parents have wanted that? Would they have wanted you to die or would they have wanted you to live and help find their killer?"

Madison glared at him for another moment, then pulled her legs to her chest and rested her head on her knees. "They would have wanted me to help them."

---

"She's very stubborn, but she wants to help," Bobby told his partner once settled behind his desk. "She wants to be strong, but it's hard."

"I could only imagine what it would be like seeing my parents murdered. But shouldn't she be like. . . traumatized or something?" she questioned.

"Everyone shows it differently. Some people may express their feelings through anger, others keep it bottled up inside. I think Madison has already released it all. She knows what's happened and she's trying her best to deal." he explained, and looked up as a figure approached their desks.

"Okay, detectives," Ross said, pulling up a chair beside their desks. "Tell me what you know."

Bobby straightened and reported. Once finished, Ross nodded, folded his hands and leaned back against the chair. "What about the girl? Could she have done it?"

"Are you serious?" Alex snapped, her brow furrowing.

"You said the mother was pregnant. Maybe after fourteen years of non-stop attention, she got jealous of the thought of a new kid in the house and killed them in a fit of rage."

"How could a girl so little take down her father, a man that was at least twice her size?" Alex asked angrily.

"Don't rule anything out, detective. I want physical proof that she didn't do it." Ross rose and stalked away.

"The nerve," Alex hissed and turned to Bobby, who shook his head and stared down at his paperwork.

---

Bobby slid back into the room half an hour later with a bag of fast food. He slipped a burger and some fries in Madison's direction while he opened his own food. They ate in silence until the brunette decided to speak, "What's going to happen to me?"

Bobby sat down the hamburger. Slowly, deliberately. "Well, you'll stay here until a member of your family comes to claim you."

"You say that like I'm some piece of merchandise," Madison replied with a scowl.

The man rolled his eyes, shook his head. "That's not what I meant and you know it." He paused to sigh. "A member of your family will come and get you."

"And what if no one comes and gets me?"

"Well, we'll have to deal with that if it happens." Bobby leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his broad chest. "Now eat, I know you're hungry."

---

Madison jerked awake a few minutes past midnight. She stared around at the other empty cots in the large room some of the NYPD detectives used as a place to crash after a hard day and pulled the thin quilt she had been given over her body. She laid back down, trying to clear her mind of the nightmare that still scratched and screamed there. With a sigh, she closed her eyes again.

But didn't sleep.


	3. Truth

-1Disclaimer: 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and all its characters belong to Dick Wolf. Not me. : (

A/N: Sorry, you guys! I've been having writers block for the past couple of days and I couldn't think of what to put in the story! This chapter just popped into my head today at school. It's not that good, but oh well, it's an update. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon (if writers block doesn't decided to burst in again)! Enjoy!

---

_Murder, He Wrote // Chapter Three: Truth_

She sat in the same small interview room the next day, watching as an image of her face flashed on screen.

"Tonight's big story: Madison Rae Thompson, 14 years old, is the only survivor of a gruesome killing spree. Her father, William Kurt Thompson, 44 years old, was one of the victims along with his wife and Madison's mother, Anne May Thompson, 40 years old. The killings happened at the family's small townhouse just outside of Manhattan at approximately five yesterday morning. The leading investigators in these vicious murders are NYPD Detectives Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames from Major Case Squad. More details coming up next."

The TV flicked to black, causing Madison's eyebrows to rise. She turned her head back to stare at Bobby, who lowered the TV remote to the table at his side and walked to sit next to her. "You shouldn't be watching that."

"I saw it happen in real life. I don't think a little newscast will hurt me," she shot back as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared.

Bobby mimicked her movements. "I can be just as stubborn as you."

Madison huffed out a breath, flicked her gaze to the wall behind the detective. "Has anyone called for me yet? Is anyone coming to get me?"

Bobby opened his mouth, shut it, sighed. "No, not yet. But I'm sure someone will come very soon."

"My mom was an only child, my dad has a brother, but he's in jail, and all of my grandparents are dead. _No one _is coming for me. There is no one." Madison's pale eyes found Bobby's, held his gaze. "Now tell me, what's going to happen to me? Are you going to send me to some orphanage?"

"You want the truth?"

She nodded.

"Yes. You'll probably go to an orphanage."

"So, once you lock up the bad guy and shove him in a cage, you'll turn around and do the same thing to me."

"It's not the same."

"Yes it is."

Bobby bit down on his tongue to keep the curse that wanted to spit out inside. He leaned forward, came nearly nose-to-nose with the teen, and said, "What do you want me to do? I can't bring your parents back. All I can do is bring their killer to justice. Sorry if that's not enough for you." He rose, gave her one last piercing glare, and left.

---

He wandered back into the room nearly an hour later, while she was still fuming. He tossed a duffle bag onto the table in front of her and said, "Detective Eames packed some of your things and brought them here. I'll tell her you said thank you."

She turned to look at him through an angry sapphire gaze, her lips were slightly pursed and her brow was furrowed. Bobby broke the stare, almost shuttered as he pulled out a seat and plopped into it. Damn teenage hormones. "Look, kid. I'm sorry I made you mad, but you wanted the truth and you got it. I mean, I'd understand if you got mad at me because I lied, but I _didn't_." He scowled back at her.

Bobby had only know this tiny, broken girl for a little over a day and he was already - quite oblivious to him, of course - moving into the role of her father. Could he be a father? Was Bobby Goren fit for the role of '_daddy'?_

Madison sighed, dragged her legs into the chair and against her upper body. She folded her arms on top of her legs, then laid her head her arms. "Sorry," she said quietly. "It's just . . . hard. And I don't know what to feel. I want to be angry and sad and all these other emotions at the same time. I can't make up my mind." She tired a smile, but it didn't quite make it to her eyes.

Bobby nodded, then blew out a breath of air. "I was going to put this off for at least another day, but why don't we get it over with now? I'm going to ask you a few questions about your parents, is that okay?"

Madison moved her head in agreement, straightened herself. "Have you noticed your parents acting strangely in the past few days? Have they been more cautious about things?"

"No. Unless they were being discrete about it and I didn't know about it."

"Have you noticed any new, maybe strange, people around your house?"

"The mailman, but we get a new mailman like every month."

"Has this mailman been hanging around the house longer that he should?"

"No." She shook her head, took in a breath.

"Just a few more questions. Do you know anyone who would want to hurt your dad or mom?"

"My dad is. . . _was,_"she corrected, shuddering slightly, "a lawyer. I'm sure a lot of people didn't like him." Her eyes grew wide, but she swallowed the questions that were dancing on her tongue. "My mom worked as a secretary for his firm."

"Do you know what recent cases he's been working on?"

"No, he didn't like to talk about them when I'm around. But sometimes I heard him and mom talking about them. I never actually listened to them talk, of course. You know, it was boring stuff. But his laptop might have some info on it."

"We didn't find a laptop at the house."

"He kept it hidden," she told him.

"And you know where it is?"

"Y-yes."

---

Her fingers danced over the top of the photo's frame as the memories swam back. She had been the one to take the picture. Her mother and father stood together, the woman's belly plump and round, the sun setting behind them. The sea was crashing at their feet, the sand tickling between their toes. Madison's eyes dropped away from the picture and she drew her hand back when she remembered that they weren't coming back. Her breath caught in her throat and she bit back the sob that was scratching there.

Bobby's voice whispered behind her, "Madison. The laptop."

She nodded, put one jell-o leg in front of her and left the living room, made her way into the hallway.

Madison stopped a few feet away from her parents' room. "It's in there," she said and looked away.

"You have to show me," Bobby said softly.

"I don't want to. I can't."

"Come on. Just for a minute."

She looked up at him through pleading eyes, but turned to the entrance of the room and stepped in.

They hadn't cleaned up the blood, and the sight of it made her want to puke. The smell was still there, too. It was faint, barely noticeable through the chemicals and the powders that the CSUs had used to examine the room, but it was there. Madison peered around, saw her father on the floor; dead. Saw her mother in the arms of that man; dying. She backed up, ran into Bobby.

"It's in the closet," she said quickly, whirled back to the door. When Bobby caught her arm, she jerked away. "No, no, no! I can't stay in here! I can't!"

Madison dashed out of the room, collapsed at the entrance to the living room, and buried her face in her hands. She cried, thinking somehow, someway, the tears would be able to drown out the gruesome flashes of images that were swirling in her head. When a hand was laid on her shoulder a few minutes later, she snapped back and said, "Leave me alone."

"Thank you." Bobby laid a hand on her choppy mass of brown hair, stroked.

"What?" Madison pulled her reddened face out of her hands, turned to stare at him through angry and confused eyes. She looked down at his hands, didn't see the laptop. "You didn't find it?"

"Don't worry about that. Come on." The detective gave her a smile, held out a hand.

She took it and he helped her to her feet. She scrubbed the tears away and allowed the man to lead her out of the house.

---

"Madison didn't kill her parents," Bobby stated, an infamous cop-stare on his face.

"Oh, yeah?" Ross' eyebrows rose into that sarcastic expression of his that Bobby loathed so much. "And how did you come to this brilliant conclusion?"

"I took her to her home."

"So."

"She couldn't take it. She couldn't stay in the crime scene for more than a few seconds. If she was faking it, she would have stayed, put on a bogus sad face, she might have even cried a little. But she _didn't_. She couldn't stand looking at the blood on the floor. She saw her dead parents lying there. Murderers like the ones that killed the Thompson's can't see that. They can only see victory. They can't feel what she felt."

"That's very interesting, detective, but it still doesn't clear her."

Bobby scrubbed a hand over his mouth, rolled his eyes, and took a step back. He turned towards the door, then back to his captain. "She didn't do it. She _didn't_." And left.


	4. Digging

-1Disclaimer: 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and all its characters belong to Dick Wolf. Not me. : (

A/N: Incase you didn't get it, the reason Bobby took Madison back to the crime scene was to see if she was the killer or not. He already had the laptop, he just needed an excuse. Just thought I'd clear that up just incase anyone was confused.

Enjoy.

---

_Murder, He Wrote // Chapter Four: Digging_

Her short crop of bangs had been pushed back so many times that they nearly stood on end. Her pretty sapphire eyes were red rimmed and puffy and her normal cream and rose face was a little too pale for his liking. He watched Madison for another moment before turning to his partner and asking, "Did they get into the laptop yet?"

Alex nodded, looked up from the report on her desk to stare at Bobby's face. There were lines etching at his forehead from the countless times he had scowled and squinted that day. His brown eyes were bloodshot and his hands were shaking ever so slightly. If she didn't know him like she did, she wouldn't notice this subtle things. She wouldn't care. "I was waiting for you to get back before we'd go down and see what they found." Knowing her partner, Alex rose, grabbed her jacket from the coat rack behind her desk and handed Bobby his. With one last glance at the broken girl, the two went to uncover a man's secrets.

---

_What kind of man kept a diary?_

It was the first thought that came to Alex's mind when she double-clicked on a small folder that read: _Journal._

It had been hidden deep. Even the geeky detectives of the Electronics Division had trouble breaking through the walls, climbing over the barriers, and cracking the codes. But somehow, in all their nerdy glory, they had defeated the obstacles and proudly handed over their prestigious work to Alex and Bobby.

The male detective stood, peering over his partner's shoulder as she read aloud from the laptop, too restless to sit down. "June 2, 2007. I think I have uncovered a horrible secret," Alex said, her eyes scanning over the screen.

"Only a few days before the murder," Bobby commented, then went silent as the woman continued.

"A few months ago, while working a case, I dug into the past of Warren C. Martin, and found terrible things. Terrible people. I didn't know what I was getting myself into at the time, but I kept on digging. Somehow, I managed to find documents, recordings, phone calls of these . . . _things_ he was doing. I wasn't sure what they were at first, but I was intrigued, so I told my wife about it, and she started to help me.

"We discovered many things about Warren. Many things we shouldn't have known. But we _did_ know and there was no turning back. We are going to go to the authorities with this, I'm going to hand them this journal and explain to them what awful things this man has been doing. I just need more evidence. I don't want to have to second guess what I'm doing."

Alex stopped, scrolled through the document, and began to read again when something popped. "All of the proof I have so far is on a disk, locked away in my safe at work. When I go to the authorities, I will give them that disk and they'll lock Warren up, nice and tight to where he'll never be able to hurt another person again."

Alex leaned back, pulled her hands away from the keyboard. "Nothing else. Just stops right there."

"We need to find that disk," Bobby said, and paced backwards. "Let's go."

---

They arrived at Thompson and Reeds Lawyer Firm in just under twenty minutes, flashed their badges, and were at the desk of William Thompson's assistant, Maria Robison, in just a few more.

"We need the combination to Mr. Thompson's safe," Alex said, receiving a confused stared and a dumbfounded blink in return.

"You already have it," she said, her Spanish accent faint and smooth.

"No. We don't."

"No, no, no. You must be wrong. You do have it." Maria shook her head fiercely. "Two officers came in yesterday and asked for the code. I gave it to them and they were in and out in a few minutes."

"Shit!" the exclamation came from Bobby as he pounded his fist on the small woman's desk, causing her to jump and squeak.

"Give us the combination," Alex snapped. The woman nodded quickly and scribbled down a few numbers on a sticky note, handed it to her.

"It's behind the portrait of Mr. Thompson and his family," she said, but the detectives were already gone.

Bobby stormed in, tossed the picture of the pretty Thompson family at Alex and frantically asked for the combination. She gave it to him, and when he unlocked the safe and pulled open the heavy door, there was nothing. "Damn it!" He took a step back, ran a hand over his thick mass of graying hair.

Alex turned as the frightened Maria peered in. "We need security disks from yesterday." When the woman only nodded, Alex added with a hiss, "_Now._" Maria whirled back towards the door and scurried away. Alex turned back to her partner as he shifted through the deceased man's desk. "You're not going to find anything," she told him softly.

"I know. Damn it, _I know_." He jerked his hands back, put his palms face up in the air, and blew out a frustrated breath. Alex watched as his eyes widened, watched as fear struck through them. He ripped out his cell phone, dialed. "I need a uniform on Madison. Now." He snapped the cell phone shut, took a step forward, then backed up. "They might come for her next," he explained and ground his teeth. "We need to see those security tapes. We need to find Warren C. Martin."

---

The detectives left with the security disks in hand and a search for Warren C. Martin burning in their back pockets. They reached One PP, snatched up the papers on Warren, settled in and watched two men, who were not police officers, flash shiny badges and walk off with Thompson's disk. Bobby gnawed on his tongue as he said, "We need to do a search on these men. See who they are."

"On it," an Electronics detective said, and hurried away.

Bobby stared down at the picture in his hand. The man that stared back at him had buzz-cut blonde hair and hard, sharp eyes the color of charcoal. There was a nasty scar running from his right eye to his right ear, distorting said eye to where it was nearly closed. His chin jutted out and his nose was big and bulky. Even though the picture was only a head shot, Bobby knew that the man was buff. Most likely taller than the male detective and defiantly more muscular. He probably had more ugly scars to match the one that ran down his mean face.

When Alex caught her partner studying the photo, she read from the print-out in her hands. "Warren Carter Martin, 47. Born in Queens, lived in Queens until 1995 when he all but dropped off the face of the planet. Before that he was arrested for theft, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer, rape, attempted murder. The list goes on and on and only gets worse," Alex commented, laid the paper in her lap. "The only conviction that stuck was the theft." She shook her head, sighed. "He's slick."

"Too slick." Bobby scratched the prickly hairs on his chin. "He needs to be locked away for a long time."

Alex gave the man a reassuring smile. "And who better to do it than us?"


	5. Officer Down

Disclaimer: 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and all its characters belong to Dick Wolf. Not me. : (

A/N: Rawr. Evil, evil writer's block is attacking again. It won't go away! So, here, another chapter. It's not good, but oh well. It's something, right?

---

_Murder, He Wrote // Chapter Five: Officer Down_

Bobby was seated behind his desk bright and early the next morning just as Alex came trudging in, yawning and downing a cup of coffee. She slid into her seat with a huff of breath and glared over at her partner's fresh and ready-for-the-day face. "I don't see how you can stand waking up so early," she said with a hiss.

"They should be bringing in the two officer impersonators soon. I wanted to be here for it."

"Course."

---

Jacob Greenville was a small man with an explosion of fiery red hair and narrow brown eyes. He stared angrily at the door as Alex slipped in. "You can't keep me here," he growled.

"Oh, yes, I can," Alex said and sat down. "You were impersonating an officer. That's a few years in jail, buddy."

He glared at her. "I didn't impersonate nobody." Alex slid him a photo. He stared at it for a minute, leaned back in his chair. "I wasn't the only one."

"Yeah, I know. _My_ partner has _your_ partner in the next room."

Meanwhile, just as Alex had said, Bobby took a seat across from Gregory Hails. The man was ugly, fat, and had a hairy mole under his scowling lips. His hair was all but nonexistent and his eyes were those of a rat's; dark and beady. He drummed his meaty fingers on the metal table as Bobby spoke. "How ya doing?" the detective asked, opening his binder.

The man continued to stare as if his mouth was glued shut. Bobby raised an eyebrow, said, "Okay, you wanna get to the point?" He slapped down a photo of Warren. "Where is he?"

Silence.

"Fine, fine." Bobby held up his hands in defense, shrugged. "If you don't wanna tell me, you can go back to your little cell." He stood, gathered his things, headed for the door. With his hand hovering of the doorknob, he added, "We'll just pin you for his murder."

Gregory blinked, turned to look at the other man. "You can't do that."

"You'd be surprised." Bobby backtracked, sat down again. "All you gotta do is tell me where this guy is and maybe I can get the ADA to cut you a deal."

Gregory sniffed, scratched behind his ear. "'Kay, maybe I know where he is." He shrugged as Bobby did, looked at the two-way mirror. "But you ain't here nothing from me."

"Of course not."

"Last time I heard, he was hiding away in a little hole. A little apartment downtown. But that was a while ago, before he called me about the job." Gregory's beady eyes shot back to the detective. "He's probably gone. I heard he moves around a lot."

Bobby pulled out a pad of paper, threw that and a pen at Gregory. "I want the address and the number he called you from."

"I ain't got the number. I heard he only uses payphones. That way he doesn't get caught."

"Fine, the address."

---

"My guy lawyered up," Alex explained to Bobby as they met in the hallway.

"I did a little better." He waved around the little scrap of paper. "Address to Warren."

Alex smiled. "Let's go get him."

---

"Clear!" the phrase echoed through the dark apartment as the annoying sound of combat boots slapped against rotting wood. Bobby and Alex moved in, their weapons dropping to their sides.

"Missed him," Bobby hissed, and moved into the tiny bedroom. He began his search as his partner called in for the CSUs.

---

They found nothing. No trace of their suspect. No signs of life. Warren Martin had moved out of his slum bag of an apartment weeks before they'd arrived. As Bobby settled back into his desk with a frustrated sigh, Madison brushed off the officer at her heels with a growl.

"Why do I have a body guard in a building full of cops?" she snarled. "I don't understand it."

"Anybody can get in here. And anybody isn't the person you really want to meet," Bobby advised her without looking up from his desk.

Madison huffed out a breath, crossed her arms over her chest. "He's annoying. He tried to follow me into the bathroom."

Bobby looked up, led his gaze over to the still-wet-behind-the-ears officer. He smiled. "Officer Jessup is only doing what I told him to do." His eyes then landed on the scowling girl and his grin dropped. He shuffled through the papers on his desk, brought out a photo and handed it to her. "You know him?"

Madison took the photo, stared at it for a moment. A second later, she was yelping and smacking the picture away as if it had just caught on fire. It came as such a shock, that Officer Jessup was jumping and grabbing for his gun. Bobby held up a hand towards the young man, then laid said hand on Madison's arm. "That's him. That's _him_," she told him frantically as she watched the image flutter to the ground. "He killed my parents. He _killed_ them."

Bobby nodded, motioned to the officer that stood a few feet behind her. Jessup walked over, and knowing what to do, placed gentle hands on the teen's shoulders and lead her away.

"You shouldn't have done that," Alex commented. "When we catch this guy and Madison is put up on the stand, they'll question you're methods of identification."

"I know." Bobby ran a hand through his hair, sighed. "But I needed to know, for myself, if he was the killer."

"Well, he is. Your dream come true."

---

Madison watched through narrowed, angry eyes as Bobby and Alex stood, grabbed their coats, and left. She wanted to leave. She practically needed to leave the hell hole she was currently staying in. The annoying beeping and ringing of faxes and phones made her want to scream. The constant police chatter and occasional scream from an enraged murder suspect drilled through her head, causing her already throbbing headache to spike and pound harder. She needed to get out. She _had_ to get out . . .

Madison stood, causing Jessup's head to snap towards her. "Where are you going?" he asked as she walked for the door.

"Out," she replied simply and turned the doorknob.

"Whoa, whoa!" Jessup scurried after her. "You can't go out!"

"I _can_," she hissed back. "You can come with me if you want. I know you're as bored as I am."

"You're going to get me fired!"

"Shut up, you're not going to get fired." Madison stabbed at the elevator's button with her finger and the doors slid open almost immediately. With Jessup at her heels, she stepped in and zipped down to the first floor. Once outside in the sunshine, she stared around and asked, "Which way to the park?"

The reluctant officer stepped up to her side, sighed. "Come on, I'll walk with you."

---

Madison smiled at the feel of sunshine on her face and the soft breeze that fluttered through her hair. Four days. It had been four days since she had been outside. Four days since her parents had died. She walked to one of the swings, sat down, and closed her eyes. She listened to the children as they screamed and giggled, the birds tweet and flutter, the wind zipping through the trees, and Jessup talking on his phone, most likely complaining to Bobby about how she had escaped her claustrophobic cell.

Her pale eyes flicked open and narrowed at the officer. She called him a name under her breath and then used her feet to push off the ground and sway back and forth on the swing. When Jessup shut his phone and turned towards her, she scowled and pursed her lips.

"Detective Goren wants you back at Central," he said simply, moving in front of her. Madison pushed her feet down, skidded her heels on the dirt under her till she came to a stop.

"Well I don't wanna go," she replied.

"Well," Jessup tried a glare, ended up looking as if he had been kicked in the gut. "you have to go. Detective's orders."

"I don't care whose orders they are. I want to stay here." Madison boosted herself off of the ground again, pushed her legs outward to gain more leverage.

It was when she went to turn and grin arrogantly at the officer that she heard the sound of something cutting through the air. It zipped past her face and flew behind her.

Screams erupted around her and the painful grunt of her escort slapped at her ears. Madison dove from the swing and hit the sandy dirt of the playground, scrambling to regain her footing. She let out a scream when something flew over her head and she turned to look over her shoulder at the bleeding man on the ground. She called out his name, stumbled over to him and fell at his side. "Jessup! Jessup!" she hollered, shaking him.

Her heart jumped as she heard him hiss and say, "Call 911. Tell them shots have been fired, Central Park, officer down."

Madison nodded fiercely, slapped at his uniform till she found his walkie-talkie. She ripped it from its holster, pressed her finger on the button, and yelled into it, "Shots have been fired! Central Park! Officer Down!"

She released the button, nearly dropped the device when a voice sounded back. "What part of the park are you in?" Madison shrieked when another bullet whizzed past her head.

"Southeast," Jessup said, and grunted when pain shot through his body like electricity.

"Southeast!" Madison repeated and threw the walkie-talkie down. She looked down at the officer as tears welled in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

He tried a smile. "'S okay," he replied and let his head drop onto the ground. "Imma be alright."


	6. Babysitters

-1Disclaimer: 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and all its characters belong to Dick Wolf. Not me. : (

A/N: This chapter has some cussing. So if you don't like, don't read. Enjoy!

---

_Murder, He Wrote // Chapter Six: Babysitters_

The ambulance's sirens were still roaring in her ears by the time she got back to One PP. With tears drying on her cheeks, Madison laid her head on the cool surface of the interviewing room's table and closed her eyes. It was only a few minutes later that the door to her right swung open and slammed shut.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Bobby's voice asked angrily as he pounded his hands on the table near her head. "Jessup could have been killed because of your stupid actions!"

Madison turned her head to look up at his scowling face. "Fuck off," she muttered and moved her head back into her folded arms.

Bobby hissed under his breath, grabbed her elbow, and jerked her tiny pixie body till she nearly fell off of the chair. "Look at me!" he snarled. "You don't know what happened today! You don't know how many lives you risked! And all because you just _had_ to go outside! You're a witness to two murders! There are people out there that want to kill you because of what you've seen!"

"Get off me!" Madison snapped her arm out of his grasp, jumped to her feet. "I know what I did! I know what happened! Quit making me feel worse about it!" She shoved at the chair in front of her so that Bobby had to hop to the side to miss getting hit. "Get the fuck away from me! Just go away!"

"I'm trying to help you!"

"You're not doing a very good job of it! If you were helping me then my parents' murderer would be in jail and not out running around trying to kill me!"

"Murder isn't exactly the easiest crime to solve! Stop acting like _you_ know what _I'm_ doing!"

"I know exactly what you're doing! Nothing!"

Bobby went to open his mouth again, went to shout at the girl again, but the door behind him swung open and Ross' voice rang out, "Goren! My office, now!"

Bobby glared back at his captain, then flicked his eyes to Madison. He gave her one last angry look before he stepped out of the door and slammed it behind him. He followed Ross to the windowed room that was the captain's office and stepped in. Ross shut the door behind himself and his detective and asked, "Just what in the hell do you think you're doing, detective?" he asked crossly. "Having a hissy match with a fourteen year old isn't exactly professional police behavior."

Bobby sucked in a breath, let it out, allowing himself to cool down before he answered. "I'm sorry, captain."

"You're. . . _sorry_?" the captain repeated sarcastically, raising his thick eyebrows. "You shouldn't have done it in the first place. You need to be worrying about murder, not babysitting a teenage girl. We have officers to do that."

"Obviously your officers can't keep up with her as proven by the fact that one is in the hospital," Bobby spat out, quickly regretting it afterwards.

"Oh, and you think you can do better?" Ross asked mockingly, leaned against his desk. "Detective, are you volunteering to take care of her?"

"It's as you said, captain, I need to be worrying about murder, not babysitting," Bobby replied, his eyes fixed on the shorter man before him.

Ross snorted out an annoyed laughed, crossed his arms over his chest. "You're lucky I don't write you up for insubordination, detective." He jerked his chin towards the door. "Get out."

Bobby turned, left the room. He dropped into his seat and put his head in his hands. Alex looked over at him with pity in her eyes. "You alright, Goren?"

He pulled his binder out from under a stack of papers, opened it. "Great. Fine. Just peachy."

---

Madison tossed in the cot she was supposed to be sleeping in. She turned to look at the sleeping detective who laid a few feet away from her, then, scowling, turned to look at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. Not after what happened. The screaming, the shooting, it was all still ringing in her head. The image of Jessup lying there bleeding was replaying in her mind. Over and over. . .

She covered her mouth as the aggravated scream crawled up her throat. She bit down on her tongue and threw the thin sheet over her body. It was a few minutes later that she felt someone tapping on her shoulder. She pulled the covers down to peer at her new officer; a dark-skinned lady with big lips and foul breath. "Hey, kid, my shift's over. Officer Yonkers is here to take my spot," she said. Madison nodded as a sign that she acknowledged the woman's comment and flipped the covers back over her head.

Madison let out an annoyed sigh as another tapping came a few minutes later. She kicked off the sheets and pulled herself into a sitting position. "What?" She stared at the person who had poked at her. He was a lanky man with wiry ginger hair and a long face. He smiled at her with yellowing teeth and said, "Heya. I'm Bill Yonkers."

"I bet you are," Madison muttered, frowning.

"Wanna get something to eat?"

"Not really."

He sighed, dropped into the cot next to her. "Come on, kid. I don't get to ride in my car and pick up my mid-shift donuts because of you. _I want my donuts_." As threatening as he thought he seemed, Madison laughed. "We'll just pick some up real quick, okay? Then you can go back to sleeping."

Madison rolled her eyes, pushed herself up. "Let's go."

They slipped into the elevator a few minutes later and Yonkers smashed one of the buttons. It descended, the two stepped out, and Yonkers lead them into the garage and to his police car. He jogged over to her side of the vehicle, opened the door, and said, "Sorry 'bout this kid."

Abruptly, he raised his hand above his head and brought it down. There was a scream from the girl.

Then, nothing.

---

Officer Trina Hodges ran up, huffing and puffing, to Detective Goren's desk. She rested one hand on the cluttered table while the other went to her chest and said breathlessly, "She's not there."

"What?" Bobby looked up from his binder. "Who's not where?"

"The kid. Madison. I left her there with Yonkers after my shift ended. Came back this morning. He's not there, she's not there." She jumped back with a squeal as Bobby hopped to his feet. Alex did the same and jogged after her partner as he sprinted to the elevator. He jammed his finger on the 'up' button and waited impatiently, cursing under his breath.

The doors swung open and the two detectives stepped in. The arrow flicked up a few floors and the doors zipped open again, allowing the two to run out.

"Shit!" Bobby kicked at Madison's empty cot. Turned to Alex. "Get a trace on Yonkers' car." With a nod, she abided. Bobby growled, "Bastard."


	7. Memories

-1Disclaimer: 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and all its characters belong to Dick Wolf. Not me. : (

A/N: Tralala, another chapter. Enjoy.

---

_Murder, He Wrote // Chapter Seven: Memories_

Blue eyes flicked open to a ceiling they didn't recognize.

Madison jerked into a sitting position as a gasp fell from her mouth. _Where am I? _Was the first thought that zipped through her head as she stared around. It was dark, but there was a dim light coming from a narrow slit across the room. She looked up at it, came to the conclusion that it was a door and that said door was at the beginning of a flight of stairs.

She tried to stand, but fell back onto the floor with a grunt. She stared back at the rope that was tied around her wrists. And then at the second piece of twine that was twisted around that rope and wound around a pipe behind her. She let out a raspy sob and pulled at the restraints until the rough material began to burn her delicate skin.

"Hello?" It was hard to believe the voice was hers. "Is someone there?"

Nothing. Silence.

"Hello!" Madison jerked forward in a desperate attempt to free herself. "Someone help!"

---

Alex was shaking. She didn't realize it, but her body was twitching with tremors. She could almost see her. She could almost see Madison crying, frantically trying to get out of wherever she was. She could feel what she was feeling. Fear. Desperation. Weakness.

Then she saw herself in that room. Those curtains, those screams, the feel of cold metal on her cheek.

Alex choked back a sob, blinked at the road ahead of her as she raced towards Bill Yonkers' house. Her partner was at her side, shouting out orders into a walkie-talkie. _No time for self-pity, Alex, _the voice inside of her said as she turned the corner sharply. _Now it's just Madison. You have to save her. You know what she is feeling. You're the only one who can help her now._

She slammed on the brakes and was out of the SUV and beside her partner, rushing up the steps to the door. With a shout of "NYPD!" Bobby kicked down the heavy door with one simple movement and rushed in with a SWAT team on his heels. Alex followed her partner up the steps, her gun placed in her sweaty grip.

"NYPD!" Bobby hollered again as they broke into the bedroom.

The sleeping Yonkers shot up in his bed, threw his hands in the air. Bobby converged on him, flipped him onto his stomach, and snatched the cuffs Alex held out for him. "Where is she!?" Bobby yelled, pressing his weight onto the thin man's back.

"I don't have her! I don't have her!" he screamed back. "I was only doing what I was told! He said he'd hurt my kids! I had to do it! I had to! They're my kids!" Tears sputtered out of him and he turned his face into the pillow.

"Damn it, where is she!?" Bobby pressed his gun to the man's ginger hair.

"Rodney's Butchery! He told me to take her there and tie her up in the basement! I did what he said!" Yonkers sucked in air when the detective pulled himself off of the man's frail body. "He's probably already there. You'll be too late."

"You better hope not," Alex said as she holstered her gun and sprinted after her partner.

---

Her wrists were bleeding. She could feel the thick liquid running over her palms and dripping off her fingers. Madison continued to twist her hands. She would get free. She would get out.

Her head snapped to the side when the door at the top of the steps swung open. She blinked at the new light that was flooding into the room, waited until her eyes adjusted before she screamed.

"I like that," he said, deliberately taking his time to slowly descend to the bottom of the staircase. "Keep screaming."

Madison saw the glint of the blade and choked on a whimper. Warren Martin had finally reached the end of the stairs and was making his way towards the small girl. "I think your mother was the most fun to kill," he taunted. "It was like killing two birds with one stone." He chuckled. "Actually, two unworthy brats with one knife." He kneeled in front of the girl, ran his finger over the tip of the blade, and showed her the blood that trickled from the small wound. He licked at it, smiled. "I've been after you for a while. But you're very slick." He moved the bleeding finger back and forth. "First, you hide so I can't find you. Next, you let the cops protect you. Then, someone else takes the hit for you. But now," He ran the back of his dirty fingers on her face. "you're all mine."

---

Alex watched Bobby from the corner of her eye. He was fidgeting. With his seatbelt, his shirt, his hands. She wondered if he had done the same when she was missing. Had he lost it like he had back at Yonkers house? Had he displayed as much emotion for her as he had to the teenage girl he had met less than a week ago? She shook her head, focused on the road. They were partners. They were professional.

And even though it was, she tried to believe it was nothing more.

---

Madison pumped her legs forward, caught the man in the chest just as the knife would have punctured her throat. With one last powerful tug, she ripped her hands free of their restraints and launched herself over the man and to her feet. She heard him growl in frustration, but didn't dare to look back as she jumped onto the staircase. She stumbled up the steps, made it to the top where she threw open the door and fell out onto the floor.

She scrambled to her feet, paused to stare at her surroundings for a moment before she spotted a door. _Freedom._ She ran for it, finally grabbed onto the handle and yanked. When it didn't budge, she gasped and turned, her eyes darting for another way out. They landed on the slow moving figure that was hauling itself from the doorway and into the room.

"Now, now, now, Madi, that's not a good thing to do." Warren moved from behind the butcher's counter and stepped into the center of the room. His gaze followed Madison as she sprinted away from the door and to another corner of the room. "There's no where to run little girl," he all but sang.

She began to scream. Scream for help. For Bobby. But deep down, in the darkest corners of her heart, she knew no one was coming.

---

_Rodney's Butchery. The best meats in town! _The sign read. And below it: _Closed on Sundays._

The small, tinted windows of the store offered minimal view for the snipers above to get a good shot, and an even worse one for the officers on foot. An officer approached the door, battering ram in hand. He threw his arms back, then swung them forward. The glass windows of the door shattered as the metal frame flew off its hinges. Bobby was the first to rush in, gun drawn.

It was then that he saw the large form of Warren Martin hovering over the much smaller one of Madison. He raised his gun, shouted, "NYPD!"

And fired.


	8. Alternate Ending One

-1Disclaimer: 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and all its characters belong to Dick Wolf. Not me. : ( Madison Rae Thompson © Me

A/N: Okay, so I decided to have two endings for this story. The first one (this one) has not such a happy ending. So, if you don't want to read an unhappy ending, skip to Alternate Ending Two. : ) Enjoy!

---

_Murder, He Wrote // Chapter Eight - Alternate Ending One: Broken_

Her voice would be ringing in his ears forever.

Bobby lowered the smoking gun to his side as officers flooded onto the scene. He had killed and he didn't give a damn. Behind him, he heard the familiar click of Alex's heels, felt as her hand went around his to pry the gun from it. She handed the weapon off to the waiting officer behind her and then turned back to her partner. "You can't help that you were too late, Bobby," she said gently as she ran a delicate, comforting hand over his arm.

He didn't here her. Her words were only buzzing in his ears as he approached the bodies that were sprawled across the ground. Warren, _the bastard_, was lying on the hard tile floor of the butcher's shop, a smile spread across his cold, dead face. Beside him laid the teenage girl, her pretty sapphire eyes glazed over, the knife still protruding from her chest.

Madison Rae Thompson was dead.

---

He went to her funeral, laid flowers on her grave. And when no one was around, he let himself cry. In the course of one week, a girl had lost everything and then her own life. And inside, Bobby felt as if a piece of him had gone with her.

He denied the counseling the captain offered, brushed off all the I'm sorry's and It's gonna be okay's. In the end, he would assure everyone that he was okay, he would even convince his partner that he'd be alright. But the nightmares would still haunt him and the face of the little broken girl would always be there, waiting to ask him why he was too late.

_Fin_


	9. Alternate Ending Two

-1Disclaimer: 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' and all its characters belong to Dick Wolf. Not me. : ( - Madison Rae Thompson © Me

A/N: Happy ending! Yay! I can't decided which I like better Alternate Ending One or Two. Hmm. What do you guys think?

Enjoy!

---

_Murder, He Wrote // Chapter Eight - Alternate Ending Two: Savior_

She screamed as the glass to her right shattered. Warren turned, looked as death hit him between the eyes. The knife slipped from his hand, clattered to the floor, and he landed with a _thud_ beside it. She collapsed against the wall behind her and slid down until she sat in the growing pool of blood.

"Madison!" She stared up as Bobby rushed over, dropped to her side. A second later, Alex was there also, helping her to her feet.

"I'm okay," the girl sobbed, leaning on the two for support. "I'm okay."

---

It was only a few short weeks later that the elevators doors to Major Case Squad swung open and a happy teenage girl popped out. She shouted, "Bobby!" and threw out her arms as the detective rose from his desk and caught her mid-leap. He smiled, laughed, and gave her a quick, hard squeeze before setting her on the ground again. The girl then turned to the other detective, threw her arms over Alex's neck and gave her a hug. "Hiya, guys," she said as she took a step back to beam at the two.

Bobby looked her up and down. There were no more shadows under her eyes, no more sadness in those sparkling blue pupils. Although there were scars on her wrists from the terrible encounter weeks before, she was happy and bouncy. The way she should be.

"Have you guys met my new parents?" she asked as she danced onto her toes and motioned to the couple approaching from behind. She grabbed the man and woman's hands and said, "Mom and dad, Bobby and Alex. Bobby and Alex, mom and dad."

The male detective nodded his head, gave them both a grin and a handshake. His partner did the same as he said, "Madison's a handful. Glad she found someone who can keep her happy."

Madison smiled, a wide, toothy smile, as she asked, "You two are going to keep in touch, right? We're moving to New Jersey, but I don't want to lose you guys."

Bobby placed a hand on her choppy cap of hair, ruffled it. "Course we will."

She threw herself into his arms again for another hug, did the same to Alex. "See you guys," she said, and whirled back around to her new parents. She didn't turn back to look at them until the three reached the elevator. She called out, "Thank you for everything!"

And was gone.

_Fin_


End file.
